ARGENTINA: A seventeen-year-old receives Argentina's first-ever sex change operation permitted for a minor

Record ID: 335135

  • Title: ARGENTINA: A seventeen-year-old receives Argentina's first-ever sex change operation permitted for a minor
  • Date: 6th December 2007
  • Summary: (W4) BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DOCTORS PERFORMING GENERAL SURGERY
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAD040IP3JBGEOCA40TAWS2UDQD
  • Story Text: A seventeen-year-old receives Argentina's first-ever sex change operation permitted for a minor.
    Seventeen-year-old Nati, was born with a boy's body but says mentally she is a girl.
    It was a difference she said she always felt, and made life difficult in her hometown in the western Argentine province of Cordoba.
    Her doctors say she suffers from a congenital condition known as Harry Benjamin Syndrome, which is a physical and mental mismatch between genders.
    For years sufferers were treated for mental illnesses, but now most medical circles believe the only solution is to change the body so it fits with the person's mind.
    And on Monday (December 03), Nati - whose real name has been withheld by the courts -- was given her sex change operation. It was the first ever permitted for a minor in Argentina.

    "[Journalist asking: How long did the operation last?] In this case it lasted approximated 5 hours and 10 or 20 minutes and we created a "neo vagina" and with the scrotum we made her vaginal lips. (Does she need another operation?) In six months, approximately, she will need another small surgery but it is more aesthetic. It won't affect any of the functions of the "neo vagina", instead it is purely aesthetic,"
    said one of Nati's doctors, Cesar Fidalgo said.
    The Harry Benjamin Syndrome is named after a German doctor of the same name.
    He theorized that gender identity is formed in the womb. Fetuses all start off as female, but then in the second month of gestation hormones are released to determine whether they will turn into the male sex. The delay is why men have nipples, even though they are biologically useless.
    Sometimes, Dr Benjamin said, this process can go wrong, resulting in a gender mismatch.
    Nati won a three-year legal battle to win the right for her sex change.
    The judge who finally ruled in her favor initially turned down her plea, but was later ordered by a superior tribunal to rehear the case.
    At the time of her court win, she said was just happy that her real identity has finally been recognized.

    "It isn't really a sex change. It is not a change from a man to a woman or a woman to a man. I was born a girl. It isn't a sex change it is fixing something that isn't right. In this case the genitals need to be fixed.
    We are all really happy that justice has been done with my life and the truth is I feel peace and a calm that finally I am closer to getting the operation and that it has been recognized that I am a girl, just as I always knew. This time, the courts have recognized that," Nati said.
    Nati's parents - 42-year-old doctor Javier and 47-year-old Alicia - said they are relieved, because trauma of their daughter's gender disparity put terrible pressure on the entire family.

    "The results were conclusive and the treatment suggested by the bioethical committee of the superior justice tribunal as well. [Journalist saying: What did they say?] That they had to operate urgently. My daughter is a woman and her sexual identity is feminine," Alicia said.
    The sex operation was carried out in the Eco Bear clinic in the city of La Plata by a team of ten specialists, and included the complete transformation of the genitals.
    In sex changes, the testicles and penis are removed, and their skin used to create a vaginal cavity. While the sensitive tip of the penis is transformed into the clitoris.
    The operation cost estimated 20,000 pesos [$6,380] and would have been covered by her mother's health insurance, but Nati's doctors worked free-of-charge.

    "She is good. Very excited, very happy. Nati has succeeded in becoming a woman with her body," Alicia said.
    The final steps for Nati will be to change her national identification documents and her birth certificate, which should be processed in the coming months.
    She is also looking forward to enrolling university in the coming months, with the hope of pursuing a career in the arts.
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